Compositions containing probiotic microorganisms are desirable, especially in the pet food art. While various commercial attempts have been made to achieve such compositions, many of these do not provide sufficient efficacious levels of probiotic microorganism whether in live or dormant state due to issues associated with susceptibility of the microorganism to standard commercial pet food manufacturing procedures. For example, with pet food compositions in particular, efforts of coating or filling standard pet food kibbles with probiotic microorganisms have been suggested but, in practice, often prove impractical. To avoid issues associated with standard commercial food manufacture, other manufacturers may provide jars or probiotic microorganism powder for sprinkling on standard foods. However, this method raises issues of convenience and compliance such that still further development in this area is necessary to achieve an efficacious composition and method of making the same that will be successful in the marketplace and gain widespread human use and use with pets. Furthermore, powder forms of probiotic microorganisms are not stable enough because as soon as powder forms are exposed to the ambient environment, moisture in the environment promotes premature activation of the probiotic microorganisms.
Thus, a probiotic in a very stable form is needed. Moreover, the stable form should be easily administrable such that the consumer is able to administer it to the pet and be sure that the pet is ingesting the probiotic. Furthermore, the probiotic microorganisms should be in a controllable amount such that the owner knows that the pet is receiving a specific dose of the probiotic. Upon ingesting, the probiotic form should be able to survive in the pet until it reaches and becomes live and active in the gastrointestinal tract.
Therefore, a stable, easily administrable, survivable, and controllable dosing probiotic composition and process for making the same are needed.